Suspended Canberra winger Sandor Earl believes a number of fellow NRL players were injected with CJC-1295 by controversial sport scientist Stephen Dank.
Earl was last month issued an infraction notice, having admitted to the use and trafficking of CJC-1295, a banned substance that triggers the release of growth hormone.
Earl said he was naive to trust Dank, who told him explicitly that he had used CJC-1295 with players at a number of other clubs.
“Of course now, you say he had problems with every doctor and he got kicked out of the clubs,” said Earl, who is facing a four-year suspension.
“But back then there was no word of him doing anything wrong.
“…I didn’t know of (specific players using CJC-1295). But I knew it went on, there’s no doubting that.”
Earl broke his silence in a wide-ranging interview with the Nine Network on Thursday night, saying Dank misled him about the legality of CJC-1295 when he was referred to the consultant by NRL club Penrith in 2011.
“He had a look at my blood tests and he went through scans of my (shoulder) injuries,” Earl said of his early talks with Dank when the sports scientist suggested using peptides CJC-1295 and thymosin.
“That led to a discussion of treatments he could provide … he was telling me of things he could do to reduce my injury time by three months … the success he’d had before.
“Of course that was very appealing.”
Earl said he was impressed by the past results Dank spoke of achieving at NRL clubs Manly and Cronulla, and AFL side Gold Coast, but asked him “more than once” whether the substances were banned under Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA)’s prohibited list.
“He assured me on a number of occasions it wasn’t banned,” Earl said.
“The question `is it under the WADA code’? That’s a 10-minute conversation, that’s something I want to cross off straight away.”
Earl said he and Dank met with Dr Ijaz Khan at a clinic and was treated with CJC-1295 and thymosin.
“I raised it with Dr Khan then, who also assured me these substances aren’t prohibited.”
